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E 650 
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Excerpts from an ilddress 



was ID 
veteran 
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DELIVERED BY 



WALTER NE 



OF 



Washington, P, C. 



ON THE 



BATTLE GROUND 



OF 



MANASSAS, VIRGINIA 
July 21, 1910 




I 



The attention of the Nation ai, Bureau for The Advancement 
OF Patriotism has been called t» > an address, delivered ' * On the Battle 
Ground of Manassas," /u/y 21, 1910. 



As it will be remembered, this event was broadly advertised t^r" ■■ 
the press of the country, and by special agencies. 

Those who were chiefly responsible for it set fort ^ ./.e claims that it 
was intended to bring into closer bonds of broth.t "L od the surviving 
veterans of both armies, and, in a general way. to advance the much 
mooted question of "Peace and Good Will." 

So far as we have been able v> learn the veterans of the North, whc 
sojourned there, and all visitors from the North, carried with them the 
best of feelings, fraternizing in uie freest >ind most liberal spirit with 
their former adversaries, and visitors from the South. 

Through the press, the public was assured that a perfect spirit of 
harmony prevailed, and that, with the passing of the first half century 
since the opening battle of the Civil War, the last traces of bitterness 
and discord had perished, and that all lingering passions were buried 
forever. 

We had hoped that this might prove true, and that all citizens of 
this great land would join in the proposition — '* Thai this is one country 
and has but one flag^^ — the Stars and Stripes. ' 

While indulging in these pleasant reflections, the book above re- 
ferred to was placed before us. We have read it, not only with aston- 
ishment, but also with grave apprehension. 

Under some circumstances we might have laid the speech aside and 
said, it is unworthy and not entitled to serious thought or consideration; 
but, in this case we cannot do so, and for these reasons : — 

The orator who delivered what he terms his Oration, has published 
a catalogue containing the names of many newspapers in this country — 
North and South — and also from abroad, whose editors seem to have re- 

3 



viewed the work, and many of them have given it their approval. (The 
author publishes twenty-one editorial and other commendations in his 
catalogue.) 

Among the comments published in the catalogue is one from Lon- 
don Academy ^ which says : 

" It is important to note that this is no tiere anonymous brochure, but a speech, 
or, as the speaker prefers to call it, an oration, publicly delivered by a responsible 
orator on a great occasion." 

ixx^ folic .j.ieuts are from within this country — North as 

:. as South • — 

" Historically and statistically the Oration is thoroughly worked out." — Chicago 
{III.) Evening Post. 

" There are times, in sooth, when the author's literary audacity almost makes 
one gasp ; but belated Truth, long crushed to earth, more than once has looked weird 
when she regained her feet." — Richmond ( Virginia) Journal. 

"The reader is startled by the disclosures, which are unquestionable, yet which 
remained concealed from him, let him be ever so well read." — Mr. John W.DuBois, 
Historian. 

" No higher praise can be given to the Oration than to say, as I do, that it is 
worthy of the theme, the occasion, and the locality that inspired it." — Lieut. J. R. 
Eggleston, Jormerly oj U. S. N. and C. S. N. 

" Would make a valuable text book in our high schools and colleges." — Rev. E. 
H. Randle, Historian. 

'• An oration well worthy the attention of all thoughtful students of American 
history." — New York Herald. 

" In this address is found a virile, lucid presentation of a subject that was never 
more vital than it is today." — Charlottsville ( Virginia) Daily Progress s 

' With these brief extracts, taken from both prominent and responsi- 
ble sources, we respectfully ask you to read, with care, the following 
correctly quoted pages from the book, and then decide for yourselves 
whether there is not great need of loyal work being done — " To foster 
and stimulate patriotism — to inculcate into the minds of our fellow citi- 
zens the proposition that this is one country, and that it has but one 
flag — the Stars and Stripes — to inspire a deeper love and greater venera- 
tion for that flag — to educate the youth of this land that his country will 
honor most those who show unqualified loyalty when danger to it is 
threatened." 



EXCERPTS FROM THE BOOK 

From Page 1: 

Survivors of the Eighth Virgiiiia Regiment, Prince William County 
Chapter of the United Daughters < l the Confederacy, and all others that 
are here gathered on the battle-grr md of Manassas to honor those who 
fought to preserve the rights of American nations: 

Soldiers of the Eighth Virgini i Regiment, the war is not over, not 
yet may you unbuckle your armor: take up the arms that you laid down 
at Appomattox, then on to the front, for the hardest fighting i= yet to 
be done. 

In 1861 the American nations submitted one question rwXy to the 
arbitrament of arms. That question was answered in IBS'" '.• the ninth 
day of April, the saddest day known to Virginians, wh ..x the court of 
last resort decided that no nation a party to the tre^.y \A 1788 and its 
amendments should be permitted to withdraw from that compact; but 
that same court, the highest of tribunals, then decided that the rights 
of no nation should be otherwise affected. In construing the terms of 
the agreement in one respect only d\d opinions cu iTer. 

As the victors fought for the perpetuation of the treaty, — in all its 
provisions, as interpreted by them, — the decision met with their entire 
approval. The defeated countries lost but one of their rights, while all 
their other right '^ wert to be theirs forever. Each fought that her sove- 
1 2'p'nt)'^ might be hers forever, and each was assured that never should 
her sovereignty be placed in jeopardy. Thus the defeated countries were 
victorious in defeat. 

But, Soldiers of the Eighth Virginia Regiment, the decision of the 
court of last resort has been disregarded by the victors. They have vio- 
lated the terms of surrender by which you were induced to lay down 
your arms, for, one by one, the rights of the defeated nations have been 
taken from them. The terms of surrender signed, sealed and delivered, 
the defeated peoples hoped that they would be permitted to exercise at 
least a few of the powers of sovereignty. 

A vain hope! The War of Reconstruction; the most hoirible of all 
modern wars, was forced upon them by their victors. They were to pay 
billions as indemnity under an infamous pension law; they were to pay 
billions as an indemnity under an iniquitous tariff. They were to see a 
vast republic made of the America^ nations; they were to see that repub- 
lic enter upon wars of conquest in distant lands. They were to see 
Cleveland tear down the flag that had been raised in dishonor; they were 
to see McKinley assassinate the treaty that he had fought to perpetuate. 
Yes, they were to see McKinley assassinate the treaty that he had fought 
to perpetuate, for they were to see him replace the flag that Cleveland had 
torn down, his face livid with shame the while. They were to see shrieking 
mobs, drunk with imperial power, — tasted for the first time, — gather about 
the flag that dishonored the heavens, while above the uproar they were to 
liear the more coherent among the rabble shout: " I,et the flag stay put! 
Get out, you little Americans ! The flag once planted shall wave for- 

5 



ever!" They were to hear a trutn -tf ^ ounding throughout the world : 
"Awake, nations of the earth, the ]->c<i les of sovereign powers have be- 
come American people!" They we e t • see the vast American republic 
evolve into a powerful empire, witl a president for king; they were to 
see that empire become a despotic n monarchy. They were to see the 
highest court of the communities -inac once were nations become the 
lowest court of the new monarchy; t)iey were to see the members of the 
highest court of the new monarchy become the minions of the despot. 
They were to see American legislator;; the despot's lackeys. They were 
to see the communities that had been sovereignties with no right save the 
rights that the despot was pleased 1o grant them from time to time. 
T'yic'j were to see the American desppt become more powerful than the 
Raa3iaa c/ai , 

The iVil ^ow on the American throne — the second that 

Ohio has sup^.. ^e American monarchy within a single decade — 

intends to tax directly the persons that live in the communities that once 
were nations. More than half the members of the despot's highest court 
rebel, refusing to permit him directly to tax his subjects; so the despot 
intends to pacify the rebels by goinj,^ through the form of adding a sec- 
tion to the compact of confederation that is still supposed to bind the 
communities that were once sovereignties. The despot is to be permitted 
directly to tax the income of his people. 

If there be a single defect in this vast monarchy, it is the veneration 
in which many of the people still hold ihe old treaty of 1788 a. • ^. : 
amendments. Once let that document give the American despot the 
moral right to tax his subjects, and Anglo-Saxon civilization in America 
shall be no more. Almighty God, forbid ! 

Virginians, since the nations that you fought have violated the 
agreement under which you laid down your arms, I implore you, — I 
command you, — take up your arms, and let every man of this old com- 
monwealth be gathered to his fathers rather than die a slave. 

From Page 83: 

"Possibly no human being who has studied the affairs of men ever 
believed that a sovereign entity ever willingly surrendered her powers. 
Is it thinkable that Virginia, a nation two hundred years old, with her 
traditions jealously guarded by her, ever willingly laid down her life to 
enter the American hell? One with the intelligence of a boy of ten may 
not read the reports of the debates on the adoption of the Constitution of 
the United States without reaching the conclusion that the parties to 
that compact never intended to create a nation." 

From Page 90: 

' ' John Marshall announced that a charter passed by a state govern- 
ment was a contract and therefore was protected by the federal constitu- 
tion. The next step was to decide that the federal congress had the im- 
plied power to create a corporation, and Marshall did so decide. The 
work was accomplished. The treasonable design of Alexander Hamil- 

6 



ton and John Marshall was a Judicial success, and the grand work of 
the American Revolution was undone, and once more in defiance of God 
and human rights, man was sunk to a subject and government with its 
divine right to reign was announced to the world. Consequently the 
old conflict that has surged through all human history — the conflict be- 
tween freedom and tyranny — has not yet been settled." 

From Page 115: 

I shall not trace the progress of the events that occured between 
1850 and 1860. But, in passing, let me say that the northern nations 
evidently believed that they could exploit the southern nations time with- 
out end in the manner that they had exploited them in the past ^' — 
vided that the union of the nations should not be dissoh c' A 
Yankee knew what he was about. From Appomattox ' this nv i s 'in 
northern nations have fleeced the southern nation ^"^ oih.^ peoples of 
the world ever have been sheared. My friends, tliis I say to our shame. 
Meek humility may become the crime of suicide. Tint more of this later. 

From Page 117: 

This Confedhratb States of Amep c/- a Temporary 
confedertion 

Never spell the southern section of this c<,i ^nent that once consisted 
«>i viOvereign countries with an initial capital .iter. There never was a 
"South" in America. The Confederate States of America, a temporary 
association, was an agreement between sovtreignties. The words in 
which that agreement was written never were intended to mean that 
sovereignties would be merged into a sin/r nation. 

Please pardon this brief digression T wish to say that the proper 
title of the war that was fought between i'i61 and 1865 is, the War be- 
tween the American States; or, the War between the American Nations. 
There was no Civil War, there was no War of the Rebellion; there was 
no War between the United States of America and the Confederate 
States of America; there was no War between the North and the South; 
but there was a war between American sovereignties, in which the 
nations were divided into two sets of allies. 

From Page 120. 

Victors and Vanquished Never Mate 

The irascible John Randolph of Roanoke once said: "l do not recall 
a single instance of cordiality between reconciled friends." Someday 
those who have not read the writings of the "lunatic" of southwestern 
Virginia should lay aside Shakespeare for awhile, then take up the writ- 
ings of John Randolph of Roanoke. What would the old "lunatic" 
have said had he been told that in the days that were to come — these 
days — that the people of the north, hating the people of the south for more 
than three centuries, should profess for them a most ardent love? Has 

7 



a victorious people ever loved the people that they vanquished? Has a 
vanquished people ever loved the people that vanquished them? Come, 
while we are among ourselves, let us admit that we hate our enemies, 
and also let us admit that we know that they are still our enemies. Dur- 
ing the last past twenty years I have travelled in all the southern com- 
munities that once were nations, and I have had excellent opportunity 
to study them closely; I was born in Virginia, received a part of my 
education there, and lived there during my boyhood. For the last past 
eighteen years I have lived in the city of Washington, or in the city of 
New York, and during those those years I have travelled in the north, 
the east, the west, as well as in the south. I say, with deliberation, that 
thf-hatred of those of the north toward those of the south is a hundred- 
fold greate" < han those of the south toward those of the north. There is 
a reason: Tne ?t- ' ired never hate those that injure them so much as the 
injurers hate thi. that they injure. Yes, O Shade of the Mighty " Lu- 
natic " of Roanok , if your spirit be about this battle-ground, the " cor- 
diality" that exists b. tween them that live north and them that live 
south of the Potomac river is of the kind that would have brought from 
your "crazy" brain an immortal expression. 

From Page 126: 

John Marshall indeed left but little of the Constitution of the United 
States for others to destroy. If a schoolboy of any part of this monarch- 
was asked to name the most infamous of all American traitors he prob- 
ably would mention the name of Benedict Arnold, a New England man. 
If I were asked that question, in reply I should rivtrae John Marshall, a 
Virginian, than who no greater traitor has lived since the time of Judas 
Iscariot. There have been men who by treachery have destroyed several 
nations; but I venture to say that John Marshall by treachery has de- 
stroyed more nations than any other man of recorded time. Not by the 
armies of Sherman and Grant was the Constitution of the United States 
destroyed, but by the political opinions of Alexander Hamilton judicially 
rendered by John Marshall. 

Indeed has Patrick Henry's prophecy been fulfilled. Said that great 
statesman: "We drew the spirit of liberty from our British ancestors; by 
that spirit we have triumphed over every difficulty. But indeed, sir, the 
American spirit, assisted by the ropes and chains of consolidation, is 
about to convert this country into a powerful and mighty empire." 
Again, was he wrong on the ninth day of June, in 1788, when he thun- 
dered out this question: "Will not absolute despotism ensue?" 

The Tentaci.es of the American Despot 

All in Virginia know that "Maryland, My Maryland!" recently 
has been made over into one of the patriotic songs of the American 
monarchy. The pupils of the public schools of the nation who 
breathed and burned, but who did not come, are to be taught the new 

8 



I 



song. Possibly the politics of the American monarchy is not taught in 
the public schools of the City of Baltimore as yet. 

But in the City of New York studies In the politics of the American 
monarchy and studies in her patriotism now are begun in the kindergar- 
ten. Here is the first lesson of a long course in each of those studies, 
for this one lesson combines politics and patriotism. The lesson is en- 
titled " Our Flag." Even now I can see the dear little boys and girls 
salute the Stars and Stripes, and even now I can hear them earnestly 
intone this chant : "I pledge allegiance to my flag and to t^ie Republic 
for which it stands. One nation, indivisible, with liberty a : i justice for 
all." There are not even state lines to separate the communi^^^v^ that 
form the American monarchy— not if the teachings of the public schorl:; 
of the city of New York be true. "One nation, indivisible,"— is the 
American monarchy whose institutions the pupils of Ne . / York City are 
taught to revere. 

From Page 136: 

Under the form of federal confederation that our fathers intended to 
establish, the human race in America would have been capable of its 
, highest development. To become higher types of man the peoples of 
the world may not be amalgamated. To tie contrary, degeneration 
v'ould certainly be the result of amalgamatic:. Provincialism and sec- 
tionalism are necessary to a high development of mankind. Home rule 
may not be too elastic, but should stretch from the family life to the life 
of the nation,— yes, even to the life of the world, including all nations. 

From Page 138, 

The Constitution Torn Up 

The Constitution of the United States has been torn up by a few 
persons while the American peoples slept. Indeed, the people of the 
American monarchy are yet asleep. When they awake after their long 
slumber, as did Rip Van Winkle of old, they will find that they are 
slaves under a despotism more powerful than any other that the world 
has ever known. 

Thus, soldiers of the Eighth Virginia Regiment, the victorious na- 
tions violated the terms of surrender by which you were induced to lay 
down your arms — before the ink dried on the paper that contained those 
terms. I shall not recall the details of the outrages that have been com- 
mitted upon the defeated nations by the victors, for those details are in- 
delibly written on the memory of each Virginian — written in blood, then 
burned into memory by countless fires. So I shall not relate the horrors 
of the war of Reconstruction in detail ; nor shall I trace in detail the 
growth of the American monarchy ; but I shall ask you to consider sev- 
eral of the countless outrages that have been committed by the victors 
upon their defeated foes. I refer to these because they are existing 
evils— continuing outrages — which cause me to tremble with indignation 
and shame as I utter these words. 



Indemnity by Pension Laws. 

First I shall refer to the infamous pension laws now in force, by 
which laws the vanquished have been forced to pay to the victors an in- 
demnity amounting to billions. While all the American sovereignties 
fought out a great war in order that a question arising under the inter- 
pretation of the treaty to which they were parties might be decided, yet 
the defeated nations, in pensions alone, have been required to pay out 
billions to their victors. Even now the defeated peoples are paying mil- 
lions r>nnually as indemnity in pensions. 

It ^s a pitiful sight as well as a shameful one, to see those old vet- 
eranj of the v!eieated nations yearly pay tribute to the men that they 
fought fift> ye-MS ago. 

The defeated r.ations were right in their contention that as sover- 
eigns they could withdraw from the treaty of 1788, and its amendments, 
for they had reserved that right to themselves ; but the force of might 
made right, so the victors, in violation of the terms of surrender, seized 
all the right that might give to them. Not only were the vanquished 
made to pay billions in pensions to those that they had fought, their 
widows and their minor children, but they were made to pay fully three 
times as much more in pensions to those that they had not fought, and' 
their widows and their minor children. Every dollar of indemnity save 
for a small amount paid to negroes — was spent beyond the lands V;' tb 
defeated nation, and not one penny of all those enormous paymeiu:> was 
returned to the defeated peoples. Moreover, unless the pension laws are 
changed, the posterity of the men that fought for the southern nations 
will continue to pay pensions during the next fifty years or more. 

Has any victorious people other than those who fought against the 
southern countries ever so horribly mutilated a fallen foe ? I contend 
that the peoples of the defeated nations should have received the same 
pension benefits as did the victors — from Appomattox to the present day. 
A new pension law should be enacted without loss of time, and that law 
should provide that the soldiers of the southern nations, their widows 
and their minor children, during the future should receive the same ben- 
efits as the soldiers of the northern nations, their widows and their minor 
children. Furthermore, the new law should provide that the soldiers of 
the southern nations, their heirs or their assigns, should receive as much 
as the soldiers of the northern nations, their heirs or their assigns have 
received. Until such a law is enacted, I shall advocate this cause so long 
as I live. 

To think of the immense amount of money that would be circulated 
in the South if such a law were enacted ! Yet, my friends, such an im- 
mense sum divided among southerners would not make them nearly so 
wealthy as the people of the other part of tljis monarchy. Why ? The 
devices of the victors by which they took the frugal earnings of the van- 
quished from them were not limited to the pension outrages. 



10 



INDEMNITY BY Tari^^ ^.''^^* ^^e been forced to 

bear burdens of tax^;'°"X"ies of ^^ ^o^th Java J.^^^^^.^^ ^.^^, 
words to describe The m ^^.^ bare-that norther ^^^^ 
fields of the SoBth^ave ° _, ^j the ^ast fifty y^,.^,. Scorn- 

be built up. Tf '°««f Uation levied »P°° f „j" the South are poo ■ 
stituted indirect in':^"^. They say *at we o tl^^y permit u 

fully do the victors 'f'^f^' steal from us t^e Wtle tn j^^^j^t;,, so 
But they do not ^fj .*^*X^ow by pension 1^^'^ "^ may not U. u,, 

^o ^"."rhXrCan of "»^ rVm^"— "'^« T^ "l^dtsta 
'""i in as oration. Some day a more h ^^^^^ ^^o hav 1. 'd^ ^^ 



",r f^Uenrrades, -r^oSCt^^-^of ' 
Inst ji."t«'^ slaves. ^HE End. [ 

Bein.convincedthatl^l^:-/--„::^^ 
to wor. infinite harm unless <=— ^';^;^^^,,„, that spirit of patriot- 
: co-operate wi^our N— Bu a" ^^^^^^^ „, „„ great KepubUc 
Unl which wiU contribute toJhr^^^^^^^_ 

VonrsmPatriotis ^^^^^^^^^^^^^_ ^ 

postal Telegraph Building, Chicago. lU. m 




LIBRftRY OF CONGRESS 



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made to pay bilix. 
widows and their inii-_ 
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